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Establishing Your Professional Brand

One way to look at the process of looking for work is to keep in mind that, except for those times when you don’t want to be in the workforce, you are always looking for work. That doesn’t literally mean you’re always applying for jobs; it means you’re always open to the possibility that a job that interests you will come along. In other words, you are a passive applicant. When employers have an opening, they seek out the best candidates—regardless of whether those candidates are looking actively or passively (Cohen, 2013).

Being a successful job seeker requires a particular frame of mind. Think of yourself not as a student at this college or an employee of that company but rather as a professional with a brand to establish and maintain. For instance, say your name is Amber Cunningham, and you work as a human-resources officer for Apple. Don’t think of yourself as an Apple human-resources officer. Instead, think of yourself as Amber Cunningham, a human-resources specialist who has worked for several companies (including Apple) and who has a number of marketable skills and a substantial record of accomplishments. Your professional brand (sometimes referred to as a “personal brand”) is Amber Cunningham. Your challenge is to attract employers successfully—even if you’re happy with your current position at Apple and are not looking to change jobs.

To present your professional brand successfully, you need to understand what employers are looking for, and then you need to craft the materials that will present that brand to the world.

There is really no mystery about what employers want in an employee. Across all fields, employers want a person who is honest, hard-working, technically competent, skilled at solving problems, able to work effectively alone and in teams, willing to share information with others, and eager to keep learning.

You need to find the evidence that you can use to display these qualities. Begin by thinking about everything you have done throughout your college career (courses, projects, service-learning experiences, organizations, leadership roles) and your professional career (job responsibilities, supervision of others, accomplishments, awards). And don’t forget your volunteer activities; through these activities, many people acquire what are called transferable skills—skills that are useful or even necessary in seemingly unrelated jobs. For instance, volunteering for Habitat for Humanity says something important not only about your character but also about your ability to work effectively in a team and to solve problems. Even if you will never swing a hammer on the job, you will want to refer to this experience. Make a list—a long list—of your experiences, characteristics, skills, and accomplishments that will furnish the kinds of evidence that you can use in establishing your professional brand.

With your long list of characteristics, experiences, skills, and accomplishments in hand, it’s time to start creating the materials—primarily online materials—that will display your professional brand.

In making their job offers, employers today use the information they learn about potential new employees on the Internet. According to a 2012 study commissioned by CareerBuilder of more than 2,000 hiring managers, 40 percent of companies research job applicants on social media (Balderrama, 2012). The good news: 19 percent of those companies report that they found positive information that motivated them to seek out an applicant. The bad news: 43 percent found information that made them reject an applicant. (The percentage of companies reporting that they reject an applicant for unprofessional online information is growing: from 34 percent in 2012 to 43 percent in 2013. This statistic suggests that more people are posting unprofessional content, companies are looking more closely, or both.)

According to Balderrama, the employers who rejected applicants cited the following six problems most often:

Start by searching online for your own name. Look at what potential employers will see and ask yourself whether your online personal brand is what you want to display. If it isn’t, start to change it.